Formation and characterization of protein-based films from yellow pea (Pisum sativum) protein isolate and concentrate for edible applications

Caleb Acquah; Yujie Zhang; Marc A Dubé; Chibuike C Udenigwe

doi:10.1016/j.crfs.2019.11.008

Formation and characterization of protein-based films from yellow pea (Pisum sativum) protein isolate and concentrate for edible applications

Curr Res Food Sci. 2019 Dec 14:2:61-69. doi: 10.1016/j.crfs.2019.11.008. eCollection 2020 Jun.

Authors

Caleb Acquah¹, Yujie Zhang², Marc A Dubé², Chibuike C Udenigwe^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ School of Nutrition Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, K1H 8M5, Canada.
² Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 6N5, Canada.
³ Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 6N5, Canada.

Abstract

This study investigated the properties of films or bioplastics fabricated using a wet processing method from yellow pea protein isolate (YPI) and protein concentrate (YPC) for potential application in food packaging. The wet processing method included mixing the protein with water and glycerol followed by casting and drying the films in a humidity- and temperature-controlled chamber. Whey protein isolate (WPI) and a film from a blend of equal amounts of YPI and WPI, labelled as YPI + WPI, were also studied. Fourier transform-infra red analysis revealed that films from YPI, YPC, WPI and YPI + WPI were formed by protein polymerisation with the plasticiser, glycerol, via hydrophobic and hydrophilic interactions. The protein films had contact angles of <90° demonstrating that they had a hydrophilic surface, with YPC < YPI < YPI + WPI < WPI. The pattern of ultraviolent light transmission of the films was WPI > YPC > YPI + WPI > YPI, whereas the mechanical and thermal resilience of films formulated from YPI, YPC and the protein blend were comparable to the properties of WPI-based films. The findings demonstrate that yellow pea proteins can be used as biomaterials to develop protein and protein-blend films or bioplastics for food packaging and edible applications.

Keywords: Bioplastics; Food packaging; Protein films; Sustainability; Whey protein isolate; Yellow pea proteins.